


Seeing Red

by Nightfurywitch



Category: Eddsworld - All Media Types
Genre: Altered Mental States, Dimension Travel, Gen, Genderbending, Human in Equestria, Just general insanity, Mild Language, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parallel Universes, Transformation, You know those, except eddsworld, paultryk kinda, reverse au jokes, stories, thats what this is
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-12
Updated: 2017-11-28
Packaged: 2019-01-16 11:37:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12341919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nightfurywitch/pseuds/Nightfurywitch
Summary: One minute, Maura and Dylan are sitting in 3rd Period English Lit, daydreaming.The next, they're in army uniforms and almost crash into an iceberg on a cloud.It's gonna be a long week.





	1. What Just Happened?

**Author's Note:**

> Hey this is gonna have a lot of dimensional crap so if you just wanna have fun and not learn quantum physics I recommend leaving

Looking at the two of them together, you never would’ve thought that Maura and Dylan were friends. But how wrong you’d be. They were polar opposites in appearance, with Dylan being fairly tall, having dark hair and eyes, and tanned skin, while Maura was somewhat short, pale, and had blue eyes and light brown hair, almost a shade of caramel. They even varied academically, with Maura flourishing in science and math, while Dylan did in art and writing. But they had bonded over two things.

One being they were both in the “nerd” section of the school hierarchy, and the second being they were both massive fans of Eddsworld. It started when Maura had seen Dylan watching “Snogre” on her phone during lunch, and she was immediately interested. Soon she and Maura started hanging out more, usually watching episodes, even sometimes attempting to write fanfiction which usually never turned out how they wanted. But today was something new for them, as they were going to try roleplaying for the first time. They planned to do it after class, and were eagerly awaiting the end of the day. They still had 6 hours of school to get through, though.

10:15 rolled around, and so did their third period English Literature class. They were five minutes late, but they managed to slide in undetected. They took their seats in the back of the classroom and took out their notes. Their teacher, Mrs. Whitby, was giving a lecture on the proper use of the Oxford comma, as if they hadn't heard this one a thousand times before. They flipped open their notebooks and Maura slipped a packet of blue sticky notes from her sweatshirt pocket. Dylan zoned out, resting her head on the desk.  
Maura feigned taking notes for a few minutes, then she lowered her hand into her lap and started scrawling a message on a sticky.

She made a noise somewhat akin to a pipe hissing, one that was a universal sign for “I have something only you can see/hear”. Only Dylan’s attention was caught by this, and Maura placed a blue sticky note in her hand. They passed notes for a few minutes, that is, until Maura looked over and saw Dylan asleep on her desk. Maura yawned just looking at her, and she rested her head on the desk as well. She didn't mean to fall asleep, but fall asleep she did.

And when she shut her eyes, the indescribable cosmic forces that had amassed underneath the linoleum floors of their school went to work. The spiraling tendrils of the cosmic energy wove their way through the minds of the two, interlocking their consciousnesses and accessing their cerebral cortexes. The force was immediately hit with a wave of raw love and adoration for...something? It looked a bit deeper and a bit farther and it found a name. It questioned this name, as it was an anomaly. It had never heard of this name, and it was surprised, as it was all knowing in the matters of dimensions. What was Eddsworld? It loomed over this name and deep inside it found an entire library of stories and images and what seemed to be memories that looked unlike anything it had seen before. No, they were not memories. They were videos. Why would there be videos stored here?

The force backed away from what it saw, as it felt a strange, archaic presence emerging. It realized what was coming. A rift. It could feel the tightly woven fabrics that made up the walls of what was reality stretching. It rushed to the spot where the tear was beginning, but it was too late. The sheer power and raw force generated by these two mere children was tearing the dimensional wall. If a cosmic force could pray, it prayed. It knew it could do nothing to stop this, so it gave a quick wave as it detached itself from them, before their conscious minds were ripped from them and tossed like feathers in the wind into another dimension unlike their own.

Dylan awoke to the sound of her name being called. She opened her eyes halfway, and was greeted by blinking buttons and chrome levers on a dashboard, as well as the steering wheel? handlebars? of...something. Maura was shaking her shoulder vigorously, like she was in a sort of panic. She sat up and stretched her arms back before opening her eyes and processing that was going on. There was a huge window in front of her that gave her a beautifully clear view of the sky and the trees down below. Wait, down below? But that means… She looked over at Maura, who had stopped shaking her shoulder and was now standing over the control board, peering through a pair of…were those binoculars? She looked straight ahead again, and this time she fully processed the situation. She was in a plane. The cockpit of a plane. She was the pilot. Of the plane. She was piloting a goddamn plane. Why the hell was she in a plane?

She took her hands off of the control wheel, and pulled back a bit. As she did so, she noticed her sleeves. They were navy blue and folded at the ends, like the cuffs of a fancy dress coat. The cuffs had pulled down a bit when her arms had receded, and she could see a bit of red wool sweater peeking out from underneath the blue. She looked to Maura, searching for some kind of answer, only to see that she was wearing the same kind of getup. Maura stood still for a second, then jumped a bit and seemingly choked on her words. She dropped the binoculars, the clatter ringing through the cabin.

Maura’s hand shot up, and she pointed a finger out the cockpit, before yelling “Iceberg, dead ahead!”

Dylan looked at her, shocked. Where had she heard that before? Her voice shaky, she said to Maura “Maura? We're in a plane?”

It took Maura a few seconds to register this, a blank expression on her face. Realization hit her like a brick wall. “Oh yeah…”

“CLOUDBERG!!!” 

The next few seconds were a blur to Dylan as Maura grabbed her by her collar and nearly dragged her from the pilot's seat. She remembered her head hitting something, hard, then nothing. 

She woke up to the sounds of birds and the soft rustling of trees, and the feeling of frozen ground and snow underneath her hands and tree bark at her back. She opened her eyes and felt a strong pulse of pain in her head. She sat up a bit and rubbed her eyes, and took in her surroundings. She was leaning against an age-old pine, facing out into a large clearing. It was a beautifully sunny day, the sky vibrantly blue and clear, dotted by soft white clouds. She took a firm hold on the tree and tried to hoist herself up, grimacing as a shock of pain echoed in her chest. She wheezed, and coughed a few times.

Carefully standing up, she had been praying that this was a moment of calm after the storm of insanity, when a rustle in the bushes caught her ear. Tensing up, thoughts of what the sound could be rushed through her head. She had entered fight or flight, and she had chosen fight. She kept an eye on the bushes, ready to fight with whatever it could be. A soft breath was released from her, however, when the animal came out from the bushes. 

It was a lop-eared rabbit, white with brown patches all over it. It sniffed the ground, looking for food, and hopped away. Dylan laughed at herself, unable to believe she had been scared of a little thing like that. As soon as she had calmed down, her muscles tensed again and she let out a shrill shriek as she felt someone grab her. Turning quickly, her fists up, she saw it was just Maura. Something looked off about her though. Had her eyebrows gotten...bigger? No, they couldn’t have.

“Dylan? You okay?”, Maura asked as she dusted pine needles off her jacket.

“Yeah, I think so? Literally none of what just happened is making any sense. Also, what the hell are we wearing?”, Dylan retorted. Maura was taking inventory on the damaged places of her uniform. There was a white bandage wrapped around her hand, and she could see some blood soaking through, and another wrapped around her elbow. She took notice of each individual tear in the coat, and made a mental note to stitch them up when she could get a hold of a needle and thread. The coat was missing two buttons on the bottom, and the nametag...wait, the nametag? She flipped it up and read it upside down, and froze. Paul? 

“Dyl?”

“Yeah?”

“I think I know where we are.”

“And?”

“Dyl...I think we're in Eddsworld.”

Dylan stared at her with disbelief. “You've got to be kidding me.” 

“I can assure you, I am not.”

Dylan let out a single, incredulous laugh. “Maura, do you realize how stupid you sound right now? Eddsworld doesn't actually exist, it's a webtoon. I know that you love it as much as I do, but there's no way in hell that we're inside the show.”

Maura sighed, trying to convince her friend this was happening. “Okay then. If we aren’t in Eddsworld, explain why we’re wearing Red Army uniforms, Paul and Patryck’s, no less. Or, how about you explain the cloudberg?”

“I'm probably just dreaming. Yeah, that's it! This is all just some crazy lucid dream!”

“Dylan, I swear to god if I wasn't your friend I would deck you right now.”

“You wouldn’t.”

“I absolutely would.”

“Rude.”

“I've just now realized that there's a goddamn gun strapped to my back and I am not ok with it.” 

“There's a what now?”

“A gun.”

“That's...yeah that's a gun.”

“That's what I just said, dumbass. You have one too.”

“Maura.”

Maura sighed again. “Yes?”

“What the hell is going on?”

“I am not explaining it all over again.”

“Okay.”

Maura started off across the clearing, pulling the gun off of her shoulder and loading it as she walked. She reached the opposite edge of the clearing and looked back at Dylan, who was still standing near the tree, gawking at her. 

“Is there an issue? C'mon, I thought I heard some cars off this way. There might be a highway if we're lucky enough.”

Maura receded farther into the stand of pines, and Dylan broke into a flat sprint across the grove to catch up with her. She did the same as Maura, taking the gun strap off her shoulder and loading it. She'd never held or even touched a gun in her entire life, but she somehow knew how to load and fire this one? You adjust the sight, make sure the magazine latched in correctly…She ran over the pattern in her head a few times, just to make sure she wasn't going crazy. She knew how to work this thing, but how? 

“Maura, wait up!” Dylan shouted as she hurried to catch up with her friend. She didn't look where she was going, and she smacked face-first into a birch sapling. “Maura!”

Maura had stopped in front of something, but Dylan couldn't see it from where she was standing. She weaved in between the trees and stopped right next to Maura. Was it just her, or did Maura seem...shorter? She followed Maura's gaze and her eyes met a rustic log cabin nestled in a stand of elms. Maura started towards it, slowly, rifle held at her side. She motioned for Dylan to stay put and approached the side of the cabin. She pressed herself against it and snuck around to the back door. Dylan heard the crash of the door being kicked open, and then nothing. She waited a few seconds, and a shrill whistle broke the cold silence. She lowered her rifle and walked around the house to the back door, and was greeted by Maura smiling like a fool.

“Well don't just stand there ya goof, come in!” Maura said cheerily, her cheeks flushed pink. Dylan stepped inside, and was immediately hit a wave of warmth. The house was definitely owned by some wealthy folks, because everything looked brand new. There was a moose head mounted above the electric fireplace and a random assortment of deer heads bedecking the walls. The whole place looked like the luxury suite of some fancy alpine hotel. 

“I think we'll be good for a few days here, because whoever's living here left a note. Says they'll be back in a day or two.” Maura stated, a smug smile plastered on her face. 

“Wait, we're staying?” Dylan questioned, her eyes scanning the room. She took note of the hallway to her left, past the kitchen. 

“We have nowhere else to go, so why not stay here? Besides, this is exciting!” Maura quipped. 

“Exciting? Maura, there's some spooky shit going on here and I don't like it. And who's to say that the person who lives here won't come back earlier than planned? We can't stay here. It's too risky.” 

Maura thought on this for a moment. If they stayed, they would be taking a huge risk. After some internal debate, she said “I say we take what we need and leave. Money, jewelry, anything valuable and small, we're taking it.” 

“Are you sure that's a good idea? Wouldn't it be best if we left no trace?” Dylan inquired.

Maura looked at her quizzically. “I mean...I think it would be wise to have money with us, just in case?”

“Well, I guess you’re right….” Dylan shrugged. “But I think taking jewelry’s going just a bit too far. We should just take money and maybe a bit of food and water.”

“Yeah, alright. Take what you can, then we gotta get outta here.”

Maura turned away from her and started rummaging through the drawer of the kitchen, and when she found nothing of any value she made a beeline for the hallway. She opened the first door, and it led into a bedroom. She searched around for a bit and left when she found nothing of use. She turned to the next door, and noticed that it was slightly ajar. She gave it a small push and groped the wall for the lightswitch. She flicked it on, and took a few steps inside. She turned and acknowledged the large mirror behind her, and...wait. She looked closer. Something seemed...off. She made a mental check. Her eyes were the same, and her face looked perfectly normal? She brushed a few stray strands of hair to the side, and nearly screamed. Her eyebrows were huge. It looked like two woolly bear caterpillars had glued themselves to her face.

“DYLAN?” Maura shouted, her words raspy and pained. 

“Maura, is something wrong?” Dylan turned to the hall, her eyes wide.

“DYLAN GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW DAMN IT!”

Dylan reached the doorway in two quick strides, her expression one of fear and concern for her friend. “Maura?...oh my god, Maura, you...your…”

Maura looked like she was on the verge of tears, and Dylan was at her side in second, arms wrapped around the smaller girl.

“Maura, have you always been this short?”

“Not funny, asshat.” 

“No, I'm serious. You're tiny.”

Dylan let go and stepped back. Why was Maura so short? She had never been the tallest person ever, but now Dylan was literally a tree standing next to her. Had Maura shrank, or had Dylan gotten taller? 

“Maura, my dude, you look absolutely ridiculous.”

“Same to you pal, considering you look even more ridiculous than me. It looks like a bird got stuck in your bangs for Christ’s sake!” 

“What the hell are you talking about? My bangs are...the goddamn golden McDonald's arches? No way, I didn't style them like this.” Dylan ran a hand through her bangs, but the hair fell right back into place. She let out a faint gasp, and she swayed. Maura tensed herself, sensing what was coming.

"Maura?"

"Yeah Dyl?"

"I think I'm about to faint..." Dylan trailed off as she collapsed. Maura instinctively lunged forward and caught her. She held Dylan bridal-style and carried her out into the living room, and laid her down on the couch. She took of her jacket and laid it in the back of a chair, and she did the same for Dylan. She propped up Dylan's head with a throw pillow and grabbed a red plaid fleece blanket off of the couch and covered her. 

She turned up the thermostat to fend off the cold and checked the time. 9:30 already? She flopped backwards onto the leather recliner behind her, and positioned herself so her legs hung over the armrest. She found herself drifting off, and before she knew it, she was out like a light.


	2. Things Get (Somehow) More Bizarre

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maura and Dylan try to get used to their new bodies. Also they hijack a car.

Dylan woke up to the warmth of the fleece blanket and the sight of light snow falling outside the window. She blinked a few times and rubbed her eyes, then sat up. It took her a moment to register where she was, and when she did, she grimaced. She was still here? So it wasn't just some crazy dream after all. She turned a bit and caught something in the corner of her eye, and whipped her head around. She scrambled backwards, nearly falling off of the couch. There was a man in the recliner on the other side of the room. He looked like he was asleep, his chest rising and falling slowly. He looked to be a small man, but he was quite stocky and a bit intimidating due to his very large eyebrows...wait a minute, eyebrows?

Dylan pulled the blanket back slowly, and stood up. Her knees buckled in, and she collapsed next to the table, knocking a silver candlestick onto the wood floor. The sound ricocheted through the cabin like a gunshot, and the small man jolted awake with a shout. Dylan screamed and backed up onto the couch, ready to fight if the need presented itself. The man was disoriented, but very much awake. He turned and looked at her through half-open eyes, and he seemed to be confused. 

“W-who are you?” Dylan choked out, only for her to grab at her throat, hearing that her voice had changed to become more masculine.

The man got up, rubbing his eyes, and jumped a bit when he saw Dylan.

“Well, tell me who you are and-wait. My voice, what happened to my voice? Wait, are you….Am I?” After hearing his voice, Dylan realized who he was. It was Paul. Paul was in the same cabin as her. And...Maura was gone. Wait...could he...no, that was insane. But they were already here, so who knew what could happen.

Paul felt his face, as if it wasn’t his and he was getting used to it. He nearly fell off of the recliner, and after he steadied himself he dashed to the mirror that was above the sink in the bathroom. A scream was heard, and Dylan came to see what happened. Even if he had no idea where he came from, or even what he was doing here, he still didn’t want him to get hurt. 

“Paul? Are you okay?” Dylan checked around the doorway, seeing Paul gripping the sink, staring at his reflection with fear in his eyes. She came in, seeing if she could talk to him, when her eyes caught her reflection.

She was Patryck. A perfect copy of him, like someone had brought the cartoon character to the real world. But if she was Pat, that meant that-

She tried to ask Paul if he was Maura, but her throat couldn’t form the words. She choked on nothing, until she gave up, and just asked, “Is it you?” Paul-Maura  nodded sadly, as she was obviously taking this worse than Dylan was.

“Oh my god oh my god how did this happen?” Dylan was tugging at her new hair, praying she might’ve gotten in an accident and this was a coma hallucination, but her feeling her hair being pulled on made her realize this was happening. This wasn't some insane fever dream. This was real, and she was living it. 

“You were right, I never should’ve doubted you.” It sounded like Maura was going to cry, and she might actually have been crying a bit.

“Can you do something for me?” This got Maura’s attention, as she sniffed a bit and nodded. “Tell me what our names are.”

“Well that’s easy,” Maura said. “Our names are-” her sentence cut off as she suddenly went silent. It looked like she was gagging on something, that forcing the words out was making her physically ill. Eventually she stopped, and looked at her gloved hands. “I-I can’t say our names. I can’t tell anyone who we are I WON’T BE ABLE TO GET US HELP-” Dylan grabbed onto her, and Maura openly accepted the embrace, burying her face in Dylan’s now flat chest.

“Are...Are you okay with us using Paul and Patryck for now? At least, when we talk to other people.”

“I mean, if we have to.” She wiped a tear from her eye, and clung onto Dylan’s hand.

The two of them headed back to the main room of the cabin, grabbing the army jackets from off the chair and quickly throwing them on.

“So, guess it’s time to leave, huh?” Maura grabbed the doorknob, wincing as if she was worried something’s out there, only to smile as she found just a snowy forest. Stepping out into the woods, the snow softly crunched under her military boots. She motioned for Dylan to come with her, and while she hesitated, she did.

“So, do you have any idea what might be happening? You’re the science one.” She said, holding onto Maura’s shoulder as they walked.

“As of right now, no, not really. To be honest, I thought this kinda stuff was just in sci-fi books. Apparently, I have been proven wrong.”

Dylan sighed and kicked at the snow, sending a huge drift rocketing into the air. None of this made any sense. 

“Well, at least we still know who we are. But do you think we might lose that too?” 

“No, but if we don't put up a good facade or we say something out of line, this dimension might try to ‘fix it’ by replacing the memory that the error stemmed from.” Maura said, her eyes scanning the horizon. “I think I hear cars in that direction,” she said, nodding left. “Possibly a highway.”

Dylan shuddered a bit, but went where Maura signaled. Looking around, she noticed something and started tugging on Maura’s sleeve.

“What is it?”

“Look!”

The object she was pointing out was a somewhat rusted black pickup truck on the side of the road, with no driver in it.  
Maura looked at it, confusion on her face, until she got an idea. 

“C’mon, I know how we can use this.” She dragged a somewhat hesitant Dylan to the car, where she opened the door and got inside, making Dylan do as well.

“Wait, Paul, we aren’t gonna, you know, highjack this car, are we?”

Maura looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “I mean, what did you think we were doing?”

She placed her hand on her head, grabbing the door with her other hand. “Oh god this is so illegal. We are going to get arrested. I’m too young to go to jail.”

Maura stopped working on the car for a second, only to resume right after.  "You're not too young, you're like 30 years old!"

Dylan folded her hands and huffed a bit. “Oh, well excuuuuse me for still thinking I was a teen girl, considering, oh, I don’t know, I WAS ONE YESTERDAY?”

"We're in the same goddamn boat, dipshit."

“Well, you seem to be handling this pretty well.”

"Oh, I'm not. Many years of practice in the art of holding back my emotions creates the illusion that I'm absolutely fine, when in reality I'm having seventeen consecutive panic attacks at once."

“Wow. Are you, uh, are you okay? Do you want any help?”

“Nope, I’m fine. Car’s done, so if we wanna go anywhere, we can now.”

“Alright then, any ideas?

“First suggestion, clothing store. We can’t go out in public in army uniforms and not attract attention”

“Sounds good. Hey, uh, do you know how to drive?”

“Well, you didn’t know how to fly a plane before yesterday, and look where we are now.”

“Fair point.”

“Hey, do me a favor. Check to see if there’s anything in the back.”  Dylan did as she was asked, and rummaged around in the backseat, before grabbing a windbreaker. Maura took it from her hands, thanking her. She threw it over her seat, and popped open the panel underneath the steering wheel. Dylan couldn't see what she was doing, but when the engine roared to life, she didn't care. “Paul, you just hijacked a car.”

“Hell yeah I did!”

“One question: Do we have enough money to buy anything?”

“Thrift stores exist for a reason buddy.”

“Well, you’re not wrong. I hope you get something actually decent though.”

“I will, don’t worry.”

Maura shifted the car into gear and stepped on the gas, merging onto the near empty highway with ease. Dylan was immediately overwhelmed by the sights. The snow covered fir trees, the clear blue sky, the warm golden light of the sun on the glittering white blanket covering everything.

They were soon passing by houses and stores. It was late afternoon, and the sun loomed at the edge of the horizon. Streetlights started flickering on, casting an odd yellow light on the orange streets. Maura spotted a thrift store in between a bar and a restaurant, and she pulled into the lot on a sharp turn. 

She took off the army jacket, and threw on the windbreaker.

“Stay here, I’ll be right back.” Dylan nodded, and turned on the radio, humming along to the song that started streaming out of the speakers.

Putting about 300 krones in her pocket, Maura stepped out of the truck and walked up to the store, pushing on the door. A small bell above the door rang as she entered, and she gave a quick nod to the woman at the counter before she started paging through a wall rack of jackets. She caught a sliver of pink in the corner of her eye, and she walked along the rack and stopped in front of it. She pulled it off the rack and let out small gasp. It was a pastel pink hoodie, and it looked to be just her size, or rather, Paul's size. 

She took it, seeing the opportunity in this. She preened through the rack a bit more, and she was nearly giddy when she found what she was looking for. She took it off the rack as well, and walked up to the counter. Without saying a word, she slid the woman 150 krones and snatched a box of cigarettes off of the display in front of the register, and the woman bagged her purchase, handing it to her with a small, tired smile.

Maura nodded and left, stepping out into the chilly dusk air. She opened the box and put one of the cigarettes in her mouth, not lighting it. She ambled over to the pickup and tapped on the window on the driver's side, snickering when she saw Dylan jump a bit. She opened the door and got in, handing the bag to Dylan. 

“Oh my god. You didn’t.” Dylan muttered, pulling a yellow hoodie out of the bag.

“I did. And see what else is in there.” Maura chuckled. Another “Oh my god” came from Dylan as she pulled out a pink hoodie.

“Have you been reading too many Reverse AU fics?”

“Maybe.”

“You're ridiculous, you know that?” Dylan said as she took off the army jacket and put her arms through the sleeves of the hoodie and pulled it on over her head, straightening it out and adjusting the pullstrings. It fit her perfectly. She looked over and saw that Maura had done the same, and she smiled a bit. She never knew that her friend could look so adorable. 

Their conversation went on for a bit longer, only for another voice to break through.

“WHERE HAVE YOU TWO BEEN? THE ARMY HAS BEEN LOOKING EVERYWHERE FOR YOU!”

Maura and Dylan turned to see a black-haired man, average height, with brown eyes. If they had seen him earlier, they actually might have, they would’ve payed no mind to him. But with how he was addressing them, they knew he had something to do with the Red Army.

They were both speechless, until Dylan tried to come up with an explanation that wasn’t “we’re not actually Paul and Patryck.”

“Well, our plane crashed, and we kinda hid out in a cabin to recover. And we came here to pick up supplies.”

“I hope you’ve gotten everything, because you have to come back to base with us. Red Leader’s been looking everywhere for you two. C’mon, let me in, I’ll drive you back.”

“Uh, thanks….”

“Wow, that plane crash must’ve rattled your brains more than I thought! It’s me, Yanov!”

“Right, thanks!” Maura said, then grabbed Dylan’s hand. “Backseat. NOW.” After jumping a bit, she got out and into the back with Maura.

“Okay, what do we do now? We’re gonna be found out!”

“Well, if we knew how to fly a plane and load a gun, maybe we’ll remember the army-related stuff?”

“I hope we do, cause if we don’t, we’re gonna have a lot of explaining to do.”


	3. So This Is Where We Live Now? Looks Like Manhattan!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Our protagonists arrive at their new home, but the housewarming party isn't quite as they expected.

Maura awoke to the sound of gravel under tires and hushed voices, which she immediately recognized as Dylan and Yanov’s. She had managed to fall asleep again? She realized that she was leaning on Dylan's shoulder, and her head jerked up. Dylan looked at her, clearly startled, then smiled.

“Welcome back to the land of the living, you goof.” Dylan said softly, admiring her friend. She was so cute when she was sleeping, so happy and peaceful. 

“Ugh, Pat, are we at the base yet?” She half-said,half-yawned.

“Almost, don’t worry.” Yanov answered. As Maura’s eyes adjusted, she saw what looked to be a local convenience store. They were probably stopping for gas. However, she was a bit taken aback when Yanov opened the door.

“Alright, get out.” Knowing not to ask questions, the two of them grabbed their army jackets, and followed Yanov inside the store. He led the two of them to a door in the back, opening it before making sure no one was looking. He ushered them into the small dimly lit room beyond the door, and locked it behind him. 

Dylan and Maura looked at each other. What the hell was this man doing? Yanov turned to the huge, safe-like door on the other side of the room and punched a series of numbers into the keypad beside it. A series of loud metallic clicks echoed through the room, and the huge door swung open slowly, revealing a wide staircase that led down into what looked to be an abyss. They could hear a faint noise emanating from the abyss, but they were too far away to make out what it was. Yanov was already descending the stairs, small lights flickering on as he walked by them. Maura nearly tripped her way down trying to keep up with him, while Dylan hung back for a second then reluctantly followed. 

The cacophony of noise grew louder as they went farther and farther down, and when they reached the end of the stairs they recognized it as the clamor of people. In front of them was a smaller door that was rusted and dented in a few places. Yanov punched in another code, and the door slid up into the ceiling. Dylan and Maura were immediately hit with a very bright light and a symphony of sound.

“Welcome back, boys.” Yanov said as their eyes adjusted. 

The two gasped, awestruck at what they were seeing. There were soldiers everywhere, dressed in every variation of red and blue that existed on Earth. Millions upon billions of string lights were draped everywhere. Along the walls and ceiling that seemed to stretch forever in both both directions, strung over every bar and every ledge in the place. The multicoloured light that spread its blanket across everything made the whole place seem happy and glowing. From what they could see, there were restaurants and small stores set into the walls and giant metal condo units placed neatly in the center of the floor. What caught their attention was what looked to be a large concrete U-shaped structure with wide windows that was held up above the crowd by thick, sturdy columns, set against the wall directly ahead of them. 

Yanov looked back at them and waved for them to follow, and started parting the crowd in the direction of the concrete building, and they followed him reluctantly. People looked upon them with respect, and a few saluted as they passed by. Yanov led them to a staircase that attached to the concrete building and stopped at the first stair.

“Red Leader is in a meeting at the moment, but he'll be arriving in your room when he's finished up. I suggest you try to arrive quickly, as he's not a man who likes to be kept waiting.” Yanov finished with a quick smile, then he turned and walked away.

Dylan quickly shot Maura the I-have-no-idea-of-what's-going-on-right-now-please-help look, and Maura just rolled her eyes and starting climbing the stairs. Dylan gawked at her for a second before she bounded up a few steps to catch up with Maura. 

“Do you even know where we're going?” Dylan asked, shying away from descending soldiers who passed by her.

“Of course I do. Second floor, West Wing, Room 425. That's where we've always-” Maura paused when she realized what she was saying. “Did I just...Pat, did I..?”

“Yeah, I think you might've. Care to explain?”

“Let's just...get to the room first, then we can sort this all out.”

They had reached the top of the stairs, and Maura started slowly walking along the left side of the hall, counting the the numbers on the doors until she read 425. She saw the keypad lock next to the door handle and wondered how they were supposed to get in, when a series of numbers materialized in her thoughts. 5-7-7-8-0-0-1-3. She punched it into the keypad and heard the door click, signifying that it had unlocked. She pushed on the handle and it opened. She stepped inside and was overwhelmed yet again. The door had opened up into a mock-Manhattan loft, with brick walls and a high ceiling with inset industrial lighting. There were countless potted plants hanging on the walls and placed randomly on shelves, a large, pristine white faux bearskin rug and what looked to be a brand new kitchen. She threw her coat onto the nearest chair and pulled off her hoodie, placing it on top of her coat. Dylan stood at the door, not knowing what to do until Maura called to her from inside.

“Patryck, c’mon, you gotta check this out!”

Dylan flinched at hearing her name. She didn't like it one bit, but that was who she was in this world. That was her name, and she couldn't do anything except own it. 

She hesitantly followed, and set her coat down in the same place Maura did. Maura was opening every door excitedly, and so far she had found a pristine white bathroom, a closet and a pantry. Dylan shut the door and immediately took interest in the bookshelves parallel to the entryway and started preening through the selection. She pulled an Ayn Rand from the shelf. Anthem, a classic. She wiped the dust off of it, and paged through it. It looked like it hadn't been read in a while. 

A shout from Maura made her drop the book and whip around to see what the trouble was. Her eyes locked on Maura standing in the doorway of some undiscovered room. She rushed over to investigate, but she didn't see anything wrong with the situation. It was just a normal bedroom. A queen size bed, a closet, two nightstands, and another door that probably led into a half-bathroom. It looked perfectly normal. 

“Paul, what's the matter? It's just a bedroom.”

“Do you...do you not see that?”

“See what?”

“The bed.”

“Yes, I see it?”

“Do you see what's wrong with this picture?”

“Nope.”

“There's one bed, and two of us.”

“Yeah? I don't understa-oh my god.”

“Now do you see the problem?”

“If there's one bed, does that mean?..”

“I...I think so.”

Dylan turned away and walked back to the living room area, hoisting herself up over the back of the couch with the agility of a cat and landing on her side on the leather cushions. She was still for a moment before she flopped onto the floor and laid face-up on the soft white carpet. She stared at the ceiling until she saw Maura leaning over the couch, looking at her.

“You ok Pat?”

“No.”

“I…yeah ok, that makes sense.”

“Does this mean we have to act like we're…dating?”

“There's really no other logical explanation for why there would only be one bed, so I'm afraid that it might be necessary if we want to keep up a good facade.”

“Fuck.”

“I agree. Do you want me to help you up?”

“Yeah.”

Maura grabbed Dylan's outstretched hand, and a small spark of static erupted. Both of them jumped a bit, and Maura hoisted Dylan up off the floor, snickering. 

“You're a goof.”

“So are you.”

“Thats fair.”

A knock at the door stole their attention, and a voice they knew all too well spoke.

“Paul, Patryck, let me in would you? I’m sure you wouldn’t want to keep your Red Leader out.”

The two of them tensed up, not sure what would happen next.

“Of course, please just give us a minute sir!” Dylan then grabbed Maura’s arm, and tugged her into the other room.

“What do we do now?”

“How do you expect me to know?”

“Well, it seems like you’re the one who’s the expert on this kind of thing.”

“Okay, let me think for a second.” Dylan started tugging at her hair again, as Maura quietly listed off ideas to herself.

“Okay, I think I’ve got it. We just, act how Paul and Pat would in this situation.”

“And that means….?”

“We treat him with the utmost respect and act like we know what he’s talking about.”

“Well, that’s the only idea we have, so...okay, we’ll do that.”

Breathing in, Maura turned the knob on the door, and who else but Tord Larsin let himself in.

“Ah, it’s so good to see your faces again! You were gone for such a long time.”

“But, weren’t we only gone for, like, 2 days?”

“Well, yes, but considering how often you’re here, it certainly felt like longer. Speaking of which, where were you?”

The two of them started to sweat a bit, before Maura answered.

“Our plane crashed into a cloudberg, and we crash landed in a forest. We found a cabin where we could heal up, and we spent the night there, before going into town for some supplies. Yanov found us, and he brought us back here.”

“Huh, so I guess cloudbergs aren’t just an urban legend after all. Well, the two of you are back, and that’s all that matters. Take care of yourselves!” And with that, he exited the room and shut the door behind him.

“God, thanks Paul. How’d you do that?”

“Well, I told him everything that happened. Minus the “waking up in different bodies” parts.”

“So, you technically didn’t lie?”

“Nope.”

“Guess you really are the genius of the group.” Dylan started laughing, which was cut off halfway through by a yawn. “Geez, guess it’s time for bed.” Maura pouted a bit, which struck Dylan as cute for some reason, but she knew Maura couldn’t go without sleep.

“I can sleep on the couch if you want-”

“No, it’s fine. We have to do it anyways, so might as well make both of us comfy. Now, come on. Let’s get to bed.”

“Just, pretend we’re at a sleepover, okay?” Maura sighed, but agreed. Dylan tugged up the blanket, which was somehow even softer than the fleece one she had been covered with a few days ago. Turning and shutting off the lamp on the nightstand, her and Maura exchanged sleepy good nights, before letting sleep take them.


	4. A Quest For Cinnabons Gone Horribly Horribly Wrong

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Two of living in the base and Dylan's already gotten lost.
> 
> Great.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEY SEEING RED ISNT DEAD

The first thing Dylan realized as she came to was she was holding something, though she was a bit too tired to make out what exactly. However, as she woke up more, she realized that she had her arms around Maura, and her friend was snoring softly. She jumped a bit, but then started thinking. This isn’t the worst thing. I’m just hugging her. I’m sure she wouldn’t mind. And….it was kinda nice. Maura was soft and she practically radiated warmth, and hugging her was like holding a big, adorable teddy bear.

A soft groan came from Maura, and Dylan immediately took her hands off of her. 

“Ugh, g’mornin.”

“So, you have any idea how we survive today?”

“Let me get coffee first. My number one rule-don't talk to me before I’ve had my coffee” 

“Alright, fine. Get your damn coffee.”

Maura pulled the covers off of her, stretched and yawned, before heading to the kitchen and found the coffee pot, pouring a bit of water into it and letting it heat up. Pulling out the first cup she could reach and pouring some of the freshly brewed coffee in, she drank it and seemed like she was instantly in a better mood.

“Okay, what did you ask me earlier?”

“How are we gonna make sure no one else finds out about us?”

“Well, let’s try the same thing we did yesterday, and if we mess up on anything, blame it on head trauma from the crash.”

“Huh. That’s...actually a really good idea. But, what should we actually do?”

“Let’s have some fun and explore the base. Besides, we probably should get used to our new home.”

Dylan tensed up, and her eyes started to fill with tears. Clearly what Maura just said struck a nerve.

“Pat? What’s wrong?”

“I don’t wanna be here forever! I wanna go back home! I miss Mom and Nana, and my other friends at school, and this is the worst!”

“Nonono, don’t cry, I didn’t mean it’d be a permanent home. Think of it like we’re moving into a summer house, okay? We’ll be here for a bit, but we’ll go back home. I promise.” Maura signaled for Dylan to bend down a bit so she could hug her, and she did, welcoming the comfort in the sea of stress. And, maybe she was just mentally begging for attention, but she could’ve swore Maura gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.

“You feel any better?”

“Y-yeah. Thanks, Paul.”

“C’mon, whaddaya say we check out the base? Besides, I’m starving, and I think I saw some restaurants on the way in.”

“Huh. Imagine that. An army base with restaurants in it.”

“Considering the size of the base, I wouldn’t be surprised if there was more than just restaurants. There’s probably a few stores here.”

“Hold on, we should probably tell Red Leader we’re taking a personal day.” Maura was a bit confused as to why Dylan called Tord that, but considering they were under him, it’d probably make a lot more sense to call him Red Leader.

“Do you think they have cinnabons? I hope they have cinnabons.”

“They probably do, if the size of this place is to be believed. At least one place has to have them.”

“What do you wanna check out first?”

“Let’s go around the main floor. Probably the one we should get acquainted to first.”

“Good point, and I do wanna see everything on it.”

“Alright, our plans for the day have been made. Check out the main floor, and pick you up some Cinnabons.”

“Have I ever told you how much I appreciate you?”

“Not directly, no, but the way you speak to me and your gestures make it quite evident.”

“Jesus, are you sure you aren't some kind of high-tech android or something?”

Maura glared at her and sighed. She swigged the last of her coffee and put the cup in the sink. She swiped her cigarettes from the counter and set her mental gps for the bedroom, but stopped abruptly.

“Pat?”

“Yeah? What is it?”

“We're...we're actually like...guys now.”

“Ok?”

“Meaning we have...y’know...those things…”

“I don’t-oh. Oh.” Dylan’s eyes widened as she realized she did feel something where it shouldn’t be. “I don't like that. I do nOT LIKE THAT.”

“AND YOU THINK I’M OKAY WITH IT? CAUSE I AM NOT. NOT AT ALL.”

“Look, if we're gonna be here for a while, we might need to get used to it. It's not the weirdest thing ever? I can't say I'm totally alright with it, but if I have to deal with it I will.”

“God, it’s just now sank in how different these bodies are. I’ve lost a foot of height and I got that back in weight.”

“If it helps, it’s not too bad on you. It’s...actually kinda adorable.”

“Shut up. Cmon, we should get going. You still want cinnabons, don’t you?”

“You know me all too well.”

Dylan swung open the door and rushed out before Maura had a chance to say anything.

“C’mon, keep up! We’ve got the whole day to ourselves, and you’re wasting time!”

“Slow down a bit and I will keep up!”

Dylan, knowing that it would be a jerk move to run off into the giant base without her, stopped at the bottom of the stairs to let Maura catch up to her. After waiting a few minutes, she finally came down, very out of breath.

“Geez...I never knew…. you were…. that fast. Slow down for me, okay?”

“Sure! And, uh, sorry about that.”

Maura scanned the main floor. She noticed that the majority of people holding coffee were mingling around a certain spot around the armory, and she mentally calculated a path to it. 

“Alright Pat, I’ll be over there. Stay where you are.” Maura’s voice was somewhat drowned in the crowd though, and Dylan responded with a quick “mh-hm” noise, not fully sure what she said, but not wanting to make her upset. 

“Okay then, love you-” She caught herself on the last part of her sentence, praying that Dylan didn’t hear, and it seemed like she didn’t.

“So, where do you wanna go first?” Dylan chirped, turning to face her friend, only to find she wasn’t there. “Paul? Where’d you go?” She put a hand on her head, trying to keep herself calm to no avail. 

“Okay, calm down Dyl.” She mentally told herself. “Just find somewhere to stay out of the crowd, and you’ll be fine. Maura’ll find you in no time!” She anxiously looked for a place to stay, when she spotted an alcove with a bench beneath the stairs. Pushing herself through the other soldiers (not without squeezing in an “excuse me” here or there, though), she made it to the benches, sat down, and tried to not have a panic attack.

On the other side of the base, Maura had managed to find a coffee shop with a display of cinnabons, and was picking up her order.

“Alright, thanks, and hope you have a good day!” The brown haired barista with black glasses made the standard reply of “you too!” and waved her off.

“Pat, I picked up your cinnabons-” She cupped her hand to her mouth, only to lower it when she got no response. “Pat? Where’d you go? Oh God, he must’ve wandered off.” After spending months with Dylan in school, Maura had learned that she had a frequent tendency to wander off. “Of course he had to do it here.” She huffed, and started to walk around the main floor in hopes of finding her friend. She checked with a few other soldiers first, but got the same response every time. 

“Wait a minute.” She suddenly asked herself. “Maybe she headed to one of the upper floors. Just gotta find a staircase…..bingo!” She walked over to it and was about to place her hand on the rail when she heard something. It sounded like quiet crying. Maura remembered that there were small alcoves in the staircases. Peering over to the side, she let out a small happy squeak when she saw that it was Dylan.

Maura sat on the bench next to her and tapped her on the shoulder. Dylan turned to face her and the tears from her eyes slowed and then stopped. 

Maura held out the bag and cup, her face a bright red.

“I got you a Cinnabon?” 

Dylan wrapped her arms around Maura, who was completely taken aback. Sure, it wasn’t a bad thing, and it actually did feel somewhat nice, she just wasn’t expecting it.

“Oh my gosh I was so worried I couldn’t find you and I panicked so I hid down here and just cried until you came back!”

“Pat, you’re such a goof.” Maura said as she pushed herself out of the bear hug. “You’re an adorable goof though.” Dylan giggled, play batting a hand at Maura.

“Oh, stop it you.”

“You know, this actually is a fairly nice spot. Whaddaya say we just sit here and chill for a bit?”

It was Dylan’s turn to blush, her face turning bright red as she smiled awkwardly. “That’d be nice…..” She only blushed harder when Maura laid her head on her shoulder. She caught sight of the bag and cup that were sitting next to her, and took a sip of the cocoa and bit into the Cinnabon. Maybe this wouldn’t be that bad...


End file.
